View full sizeHigher tolls along the Ohio Turnpike would help pay for Opportunity Corridor and other projects proposed in northern Ohio.Marvin Fong, Plain Dealer file

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Money from the Ohio Turnpike would cover most of the $334 million cost of Opportunity Corridor, under a draft funding list released Thursday by advisers to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The proposed boulevard from Interstate 490 to University Circle is among 47 big-ticket projects statewide receiving a preliminary nod from ODOT’s Transportation Review Advisory Council.

Construction could start late in 2014 on the project’s $44 million first leg, widening East 105th Street between Chester and Quincy avenues, said Bonnie Teeuwen, public works director for Cuyahoga County.

That work is needed to relieve rush-hour congestion in University Circle, even if Opportunity Corridor never gets done, Teeuwen said.

The proposed corridor, stretching 3½ miles and requiring demolition of homes and businesses, still needs federal approval.

Project opponents believe the money is better spent improving existing routes into University Circle, along with transit and cycling options.

Opportunity Corridor is among 13 projects in Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina and Summit counties on the ODOT advisory council’s draft list.

The council, made up of nine prominent residents from across the state, sets funding priorities each year for projects that cost more than $12 million and add lanes to Ohio’s transportation network.

Until turnpike money arrived, the council had a shrinking pot of cash to dole out in recent years, due to lagging revenue from federal and state gas taxes.

The council’s vote Thursday triggers a public comment period on the draft list until Aug. 16.

ODOT officials will present projects next month for approval from the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission.

After that, the advisory council will take a final vote in September on the funding list.

Other projects and their proposed funding on the council’s draft list included:

- Building the second Inner Belt Bridge. The state would provide the $340 million needed to demolish the existing span and open another in its place by 2017.

The first new Inner Belt Bridge is under construction now, at a cost of $293.4 million, and is scheduled to open in November.

- Reconstructing Broadway at Interstate 77. Part of the ongoing Inner Belt improvements, this project would receive $42 million from the state by 2016.

Crews will rebuild Broadway over I-77 and move the Broadway entrance ramp to I-77 South to Pershing Avenue, via a new frontage road on the west side of I-77.

The work is necessary for the later widening of I-77 over I-490, which is a rush-hour bottleneck.

- Adding a lane to Interstate 271, between the Summit County line and the Miles Road interchange.

The state would send $126 million to the project by 2016, pending a federal approval of the project’s environmental impact.

- Widening I-77 in Cuyahoga and Summit counties. The state would fund the project’s $48 million cost by 2016.

The project covers a 2.8-mile stretch of I-77 from the Ohio Turnpike to Ohio 82.

- Widening U.S. 20 (Center Ridge Road) in North Rideville.

The draft list proposed sending $38 million of the project’s $48 million cost by 2017.

- Adding lanes to U.S. 42 in Medina.

The project calls for widening U.S. 42 in the city limits to five lanes. The advisory council recommends sending $41 million to the $48 million project by 2016.

- Reconstructing parts of Interstates 76 and 77 near the Main-Broadway interchange in Akron.

The advisory council endorses sending $90 million to the $96 million project by 2016.

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